Most of us have a significant amount of
money in “Investments” 401k’s etc.
Hopefully it earns a return, but it is there in case it has to be tapped from time to time. The it’s the average that is important, if you budget for say $3,000 a month, spend $3,000 and only have $3,000
income, then you had better have a large
emergency fund.
Many I believe if faced with a large expense, the
cruise ends until such time that enough
money can be saved to deal with the expense and go again, how long does that take? It could take years.
Seeing as how you are concerned with costs, and desire to start with a ten yr old boat, I’d say first get a boat that that is proven to age well, many don’t, in my opinion it seems some newer designs won’t age well.
I haven’t read all that many blogs or whatever of cruising people, but the one or two that I have glanced at, almost all ran into rather large significant expenses, often revolving around the
motor.
I remember one young couple circumnavigating that had to spend tens of thousands of dollars having their
hull nearly completely rebuilt, and it was a newer boat.
I plan myself to have about a $1,000 a month excess, that builds up over time and is depleted as necessary, so that hopefully I don’t tap into the investments
The “Sock” as one poster called it.